


Sailing Against The Wind, Falling Overboard, and Other Increasingly Literal Metaphors for Love When You’re In Too Deep

by Dragonomatopoeia (IntelligentAirhead)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: I write Sora as neurodivergent but it's not explicitly mentioned in the fic, KH3 spoilers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Some other disney characters appear because this is Kingdom Hearts but I'm not tagging them, There's some background xion/kairi flirting but it's not the main focus so again it's not tagged, post kh3, unsafe boating practices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 07:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20254192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntelligentAirhead/pseuds/Dragonomatopoeia
Summary: When Sora's informed that he'll finally be able to go on a mission with Riku, there seem to be only fair winds ahead. Still, he can't help but be a little worried, considering how rough the waters have been. He won't let things like that get him down, though. After all they've been through, dealing with something as small as missing his best friend from time to time is nothing at all. He's going to make the most of the time they have, come hell or high water.It'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Probably.As long as they don't crash another raft.





	Sailing Against The Wind, Falling Overboard, and Other Increasingly Literal Metaphors for Love When You’re In Too Deep

**Author's Note:**

> This is Post-KH3 fic, but it takes place in what I call “The Beach Party Timeline,” aka where the ending is the same but no one disappears and they all have a good time on the beach. 
> 
> Imagine with me, if you will, Sora, Ventus, and Pence loudly singing a horrible beach song in rounds for the sheer purpose of annoying their friends. That's the power of Ignoring Whatever Mr. Nomura drops into my lap, and it's a power I will exploit until the next game comes out, and perhaps even afterwards. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy.

If he hadn’t seen the man standing in the middle of a desert, Sora would think Master Yen Sid was permanently attached to his desk. 

Although, considering everything he knows about the former Keyblade Master (almost four whole facts), it could be possible that even that was just a projection, and the real Master Yen Sid was actually sitting at his desk during the battle. Maybe he’s cursed, so he _ can’t _come out from behind the desk. Maybe it’s even like Will’s curse, where he can leave the desk once every ten years. That would explain how he could show up in the Keyblade Graveyard. 

Is it rude to ask someone if they’re cursed? Riku would know. 

It’s not like Sora can ask Riku now, though. They’re both wilting under the gaze of the desk-bound wizard in question, and curse or no curse, his glare is _ scary. _ Though, that might be because he asked Sora a question a solid thirty seconds ago.

Which he should be answering. And he would! He’d love to answer the question! One hundred percent enthusiastic to answer. 

The problem is, he one hundred percent did not hear the question. 

“Uh… Sorry. Run that by me again?” Sora asks, scratching the back of his head. 

Riku snorts beside him, then stiffens, as if to make up for being unprofessional for a single second in front of the Master.

Meanwhile, Master Yen Sid’s glare only intensifies, which is totally unfair. It’s not like Sora _ meant _ to tune out. It’s just hard to pay attention to someone when eight out of ten times they’re telling him stuff that he already knows. It’d be easier if Master Yen Sid went back to using visual aids and projections, like—

Wait, did he come out from behind the desk when he did his presentation on nobodies?

“As I stated previously,” Master Yen Sid begins, eyes narrowed, and right! Paying attention. “Vast swaths of heartless yet remain amongst the various worlds, and as Keyblade wielders, it falls to you to dispatch them as quickly as possible.”

Maybe Sora should amend his previous complaint. _ Nine _ times out of ten Master Yen Sid is telling him things he already knows. 

Ugh. That’s probably unfair. Definitely mean, at least. 

Master Yen Sid’s eyebrows draw together, his face pinching up, and wow, Sora _ really _ hopes he can’t read minds. Or maybe he can sense darkness or something? Is that how that works? _ Please _ don’t let that be how it works. It would suck to fall to the darkness, but it would be a million times worse to fall because he couldn’t handle another lecture from Yen Sid. Riku would never let him hear the end of it. 

Although… Sora’s definitely thought meaner things before. Mostly after a really tough fight. Or after being thrown off a mountain. So he’s probably fine?

He’ll check if he can do Riku’s dark firaga thing later, just in case. 

“Xion and Kairi are currently dealing with the deluge of heartless in Arendelle,” Master Yen Sid continues, which is news to Sora. Though, that does explain why Kairi thought three am was a good time to text him. Also why she needed to know so much about fire spells. 

“I have yet to deploy other teams, as I wished to consult with you individually.” 

“Individually?” Sora looks up at Riku, who tries very hard not to smile. Too bad. Sora knows him too well, and he can see the way his mouth’s twitching. 

“For the most part,” Master Yen Sid says, expression finally defrosting. Kind of. “Although I have made attempts to take each individual’s preferences into account, I have made somewhat of a presumption in this case. Considering your background and history of working alongside one another, I thought that it would be most efficient to pair the two of you for your missions. Was I wrong in this assumption?” 

“No, Sir,” Riku responds, a beat faster than Sora can pump his fist. 

“I get to team up with Riku?” Sora asks, grinning. “Awesome!” 

“This is not a vacation, mind you,” Master Yen Sid says, expression set and stern. “You will need to work swiftly and effectively. Do not act recklessly.” 

“No worries! I’ll keep Riku in line,” Sora says, fists on his hips. 

“It was not Riku about whom I was worried,” Master Yen Sid says, sighing, which is _ totally _ unfair. Sora’s experienced at the whole travelling around, world order thing! Sure, he’s run into some trouble, but he’s not the one who beat up an emperor’s guard and nearly caused an international incident while running around in the Land of Dragons. 

“I’m lucky to have someone as skilled as Sora looking after me,” Riku says, which catches Sora off-guard. People don’t usually talk back to Master Yen Sid when he critiques Sora’s performance. It’s a nice change of pace.

“Indeed?” Master Yen Sid replies, his furry eyebrows arching. “See that you keep one another in line, then.”

“We’ll be careful, sir,” Riku replies, which will never stop being funny. 

In Riku’s defense, he does _ try _ to be careful. Sora’s known that since he was six and his best friend was seven. The problem is, as much as Riku tries to be careful, as much as he overthinks everything in existence, there’s always a moment where he hits the breaking point and goes with the first ridiculous solution that comes to mind. Sometimes that means getting stuck halfway up a palm tree because he didn’t realize he could ask Sora’s dad for help. Sometimes that means being overtaken by the forces of darkness because he didn’t realize he could ask _ Sora _for help. 

But that’s okay. Even if Riku doesn’t realize he can ask for it, Sora will be there to help anyway, as many times as he needs him to. And also to make fun of him afterwards for being a self-sacrificial butthead.

Maybe that isn’t exactly what Master Yen Sid had in mind when pairing them together for their mission, but it’s just as important as whatever powerful magic they can pull off together, or the number of heartless they can take out with their powers combined. Sure, Riku and Sora fight better together than they do alone— not that they’re ever allowed to prove that, considering how often they get separated— but that’s just math. Sora’s always relied on his friends’ power. Besides, Riku’s powerful enough that he could take out waves of heartless all on his own.

The real reason they make a good team is that, well… 

Sora bites the inside of his cheek, trying to think, but there’s really no other way to explain it other than he’s himself and Riku is Riku, and whenever one of them forgets that, the other reminds him. 

“Sora,” Master Yen Sid says, and wow, he sounds a lot more tired than he did a minute ago. “I find myself reiterating, once again, that you are dismissed.”

Sora blinks at him, gaping, before realizing Riku’s already left, _ again, _ even though they’re travelling together this time because he’s a _ jerk. _

“Right! I was just— Preparing myself!” Sora crosses his arms behind his head, grinning. “We won’t let you down! Now, I’ll just…” He jerks a thumb towards the door. “Yeah.”

“By all means,” Master Yen Sid says, waving a hand. “If you see Lea on your way out, do send him up to me.” 

“Aye, aye!” Sora agrees, saluting, before turning on his heel and racing out the door. He kind of hopes he doesn’t see Lea— he can’t afford the detour. Riku already has a head start, and his strides are a lot longer. With Sora’s luck, he’s probably already packed and halfway to the ship.

Or, maybe not, considering Sora can see him the second he opens the door, sitting a few steps away from the staircase’s first landing.

Riku is stabbing at his gummiphone with one finger when Sora makes his way down to him, which is weird, since he’s the one who’d gone on about how ‘using your thumbs is more efficient’ in the first place. 

“Is Roxas asking you to spar again?” Sora asks, sitting a couple stairs above him. 

Riku snorts. “Sparring. That’s one word for it.” He taps at the screen with a little less force. “Slaughter’s more accurate.”

“He’ll work it out of his system eventually?” Probably. Some day. “Maybe this’ll be the time you win.”

“Sure,” Riku sighs. “For the authentic experience, I might as well go ask Terra if he can hold him steady for old time’s— Shit.” He winces. “Sorry. That was out of line.”

“I’m not gonna tell on you,” Sora says. Then, after a moment. “Aqua would kill you, and I need you around.”

“Terra makes more jokes about it than I do.” Riku frowns. “Though, it’s his right to.”

“Stop beating yourself up,” Sora commands. “That’s Roxas’s job. Although!” He puffs himself up. “He has to wait until we get back from our mission. No bailing on me without warning this time!”

“That isn’t actually— I’m not talking to Roxas,” Riku says, frowning down at his gummiphone. 

Sora leans forward, but Riku slides it into his pocket before he can see anything. 

“Privacy, Sora.”

“Right, sorry.” Sora laughs sheepishly. “My bad. You just seemed very, uh…” He holds his hand flat, then stabs at it with a finger, wincing as he misjudges the force. “Stabby.”

“I’m not stabby,” Riku, who has historically been very stabby, says. Before Sora can say as much, though, he snorts. “Did you sit up there to be taller than me?”

“Duh,” Sora says, making a face at him. “I take what I can get.”

Riku shakes his head. “Are you sure you’ve grown?” He laughs. “You might want to get that checked out.”

“Give me a break, Riku,” Sora groans. “Giants don’t get to comment on normal people’s heights. Besides, I’m pretty sure Xion and Roxas took the growth spurt I was promised.” He wrinkles his nose. “I thought that you were supposed to grow _ more _ when you sleep. I should be, like, eighty feet tall.”

Riku looks uncomfortable for a second, though he tries to smile, and right. Right. He doesn’t like to talk about that much. 

Time for a change of subject.

“Y’know,” Sora starts, too loud. “I was kind of hoping that after we defeated Xehanort, all the heartless would just kinda…” He trails off, twirling his hand like it’s a cyclone. “I don’t know! Poof?” 

Riku laughs, a genuine smile coming back to his face. “And when has it ever been that simple?”

“Just because it _ hasn’t been, _doesn’t mean it can’t be,” Sora says. He tries to make that sound horses make where they blow out their lips— he’s heard it enough from Max and Sven that he should be a pro— but instead it comes out as more of a weird puff of air. Like he’s trying to blow up a balloon really badly. Or playing an imaginary flute badly. It’s all bad.

Or, well, there’s probably a positive way to spin it if Sora tries hard enough, but that effort is better spent on things like falling off mountains. Or dying. Or worse. 

“What was that supposed to be?” Riku asks, laughing, and it turns out Sora didn’t have to search too hard for a silver lining after all. 

It figures, really. Riku’s always been there to help make up the difference.

“Ugh, gimme a break.” Sora shoves at Riku’s shoulder, then hops to his feet. “If you have enough time to make fun of me, you should waste it getting ready to go. You don’t have as much practice packing as I do.” 

“Wanna bet?” Riku shakes his head. “Once a slowpoke, always a slowpoke.” 

“You’ll eat those words,” Sora promises. Riku may have the longer legs, but Sora’s spent longer listening to Donald’s nagging and Goofy’s embarrassing reminders about how to best pack underwear. 

He’s got this in the bag. Or, well, suitcase. 

* * *

Riku almost beats him anyway. 

He doesn’t, thank the Light, but if he _ did, _ it wouldn’t have been a fair battle anyway, since Riku has like, two changes of clothes at the tower, max, while Sora has to lug around two years’ worth of enchanted accessories. Plus, he had to climb all the way back to Master Yen Sid’s study to ask him where they were actually going. 

Luckily, Riku got held up on his way out, which means Sora (technically) won. It also means he has just enough time to catch up on his texts while he waits. 

**(17:34)** I cant believe you left without saying goodbye AGAIN thanks alot Kairi

**_(17:34)_** _sorry, sora, i wanted to say goodbye but we left rlly late and you were already asleep :(_

**(17:34)** I forgive you but one day we are going to have an ACTUAL goodbye with ACTUAL hugs and no one will be kidnapped at all or vanish or anything weird itll be great

** _(17:35)_ ** _ wow might want to lower your standards there :/ _

** _(17:35) _ ** _ seems unrealistic :/ _

**(17:35) **What does the :/ face mean you and Riku keep using it and I never know how to respond

**(17:35) ** _ um!! it’s like kinda displeased? like _

** _(17:37)_ ** _ okay. you know that face riku makes when you remind him of that horrible mid-waist fabric thing he had when he was possessed _

**(17:37) **The Ass Cape

** _(17:37) _ ** _ yes, okay, i was trying to be tactful, but yeah, the ass cape _

**(17:38)** OK I know what the face is now thanks Kairi :)

** _(17:38)_ ** _ np!! _

Sora’s about to ask her about Xion when he hears Riku clambering into the ship, so he pockets his gummiphone instead. He’ll have time to tease her later.

“Told you I’d win,” Sora says, turning in his seat so that he can grin at Riku from behind the headrest. 

“I had to tell Lea that Master Sid wanted to see him,” Riku defends. “If I hadn’t stopped to talk to him, I would have won.”

“Well, _ I _ had to run all the way back up the tower _ and _ took a detour to the kitchens,” Sora counters. He reaches into one of his pockets, looking for his proof before tossing it Riku’s way. “Here! You’ll need this.”

“An orange?” Riku catches it, but it doesn’t seem like he means to, considering how confused he looks. 

“We’re heading out to sea!” Sora announces. “Gotta keep the scurvy away.”

“Sora…” Riku sighs. “I don’t think we’re going to be there _ that _ long.”

“Can’t risk it,” Sora says, firmly. “Do you want your old scars opening up? Because I don’t.”

Riku frowns, looking between him and the citrus. “Did you… You haven’t had scurvy on your trips, right?”

“Riku!” Sora blows a raspberry at him. “I’m not that bad at taking care of myself!” Seeing other people struggle with the symptoms was enough for multiple lifetimes. 

“Sorry,” Riku says, smiling. “I forget how far you’ve come sometimes.”

“Yeah, well.” Sora ducks his head, brushing at his own smile with the back of his fist. “Spend enough time with Donald and Goofy nagging you…” He shrugs. “For all the stuff they say about world order, they still dump, like, five bottles of sunscreen on me every time we land in Port Royal.”

“Oh, so it’s just like every other time we pretended to be pirates then,” Riku jokes, stowing away his luggage. 

“Excuse _ you.” _ Sora sniffs, puffing himself up. “You might be pretending, but I’m a captain of my own ship now!” He deflates. “Or I was. I wish I could show you _ The Leviathan. _She was beautiful.”

“What happened to it?” Riku asks. 

“She turned into crabs.” Sora sighs. “Guess I’ll just have to ask Jack if we can use the _ Pearl. _ I don’t think anyone else would let me charter a ship.” Although… Elizabeth _ is _ the Pirate King now, so she might be able to help with that.

“Uh… Back up a second,” Riku says, walking over to Sora’s chair. “Crabs?”

“Y’know how the goddess of the ocean helped us win a battle against the kraken and an army of the undead?”

“I think you may have forgotten to mention that,” Riku says, voice flat and dry, and, alright, that one is Sora’s bad. 

“Oh. Oops.” Sora laughs, a bit nervously, and rubs the back of his head. “Well, she did, and she also lent me a ship. But, uh, it was kinda made of crabs? So when the battle was over, they all kind of just… scuttled?” 

Riku closes his eyes and releases a long, deep breath. “Alright. Okay. Sure.” His eyes snap open. “Wait! Wait. Is this why you sent me all those photos of the—”

“The crabs! Yeah!” Sora beams at him. 

“Okay, that makes… That makes a lot more sense.” Riku shakes his head. “I just thought they were, like, those lucky emblems you kept searching for. I didn’t realize you needed them as _ parts.” _

“Yeah,” Sora says. “Too bad I can’t just round them all up again.”

“Sorry, Captain Sora,” Riku says, ruffling his hair. “If it’ll make you feel better, you can take the helm of our next raft. You have the most experience, anyway.”

“Riku, no,” Sora whines. “No more rafts!”

Riku draws back, expression falling for a moment before smoothing out, as if he thinks Sora won’t be able to tell that he’s still having an emotion. “What’s wrong with rafts?”

“Aside from how they keep sinking to the bottom of the ocean?” Sora crosses his arms. Riku might be brave and kind and one of the best people Sora knows, but he can also be _ really _stubborn when it comes to ridiculous things. “They aren’t built for long distances!”

“They’re perfectly serviceable,” Riku says, mirroring Sora’s posture. “Sure, the craftmanship on the _ Highwind _ wasn’t great, but—”

“Oh!” Sora says, cutting him off, which— okay, it probably feels intentional to Riku, but it really, really isn’t. It’s just that Sora has remembered something important, and Riku has to know right now, immediately. “Sorry, Riku. I just— I keep forgetting to tell you. Guess what this ship is called!”

Riku’s eyebrows knit together, and he looks like he’s about to say something, but then he shakes his head, snorting. “I don’t— _ The Leviathan? _ That’s what you called your other ship. Or… You wanted to name the raft _ Excalibur, _ right?”

“Nope!” Sora denies, cheerily popping the sound. “Welcome aboard the _ Highwind, _ Riku.”

Riku stares at him for a long moment without saying anything, and it’s not like Sora panics or anything, but… okay, so it is a little nerve-wracking, and no one’s ever liked silence much anyway, so he kind of rambles a bit.

“Or, I guess it’s more like the _ Highwoof, _ ‘cause I put all the meow wow stickers on it, and I thought that was kind of funny, but, uh… yeah! I just… You really wanted to name the raft that, and you won the race, so I thought it was only fair, right?” Sora smiles at Riku, then brushes at his mouth with his fist. “Since we were supposed to explore different worlds with the _ Highwind _ and everything, I mean. So, I thought that once I found you and Kairi again, we could do, uh, that. Exploring on the _ Highwind. _And now we are.” It’s like a dream come true, Sora stops himself from adding. There are things Riku will call him sappy for, and then there are things that he’ll never live down for the rest of his life. 

Riku’s silent for another moment, and then Sora’s suddenly being crushed in a hug. 

“Thanks,” Riku says, and it feels like the word is loaded down with weights, not a whisper, but a physical thing being pressed into Sora’s shoulder. “Thank you, Sora.”

“Of course,” Sora says because there isn’t any other answer. There isn’t much he wouldn’t do for Riku, and in the grand scheme of things, this is barely a drop in the bucket. 

He isn’t sure how long they hug before Riku pulls away and inputs the coordinates for the Caribbean— “The ship lets you do that?” “Sora.”— but in the moment, it feels like all the time in the world. 

* * *

Riku looks very swashbuckling-y with the disguise magic in place. Sure, it looks closer to the kind of outfits Will used to wear whenever Sora came to visit than anything else, and it doesn’t have much of Riku’s usual yellow, but it’s a nice change of pace. Overall, the magic’s done a good job.

It’s too bad Riku’s too busy sulking to enjoy it.

“Full fathom five our first attempt at a raft lies.” Riku sighs, staring out over the sea with his chin tucked over his folded arms. “And our second.”

Before Sora gets the chance to ask Riku why the hell he’s talking like that, Jack scoffs.

“Don’t make it a third, mate,” he says. “Absolute shite at long-distance, anyway. Wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Ha!” Sora pumps a fist. “I _ told _ you, Riku. Ships are better.”

“Now don’t tell him that,” Jack says, snorting. “You may be right, but if he’s quoting the bard, he’s three steps from making his own way ashore, savvy?” 

Riku spins on his heel, wheeling on Jack. “I am _ not—” _ He pulls up short. “You have Shakespeare?” 

“Don’t see why I would,” Jack sniffs. "I don’t trade in bones, and the only corpses I care to cart around have stepped lively enough to earn their passage.” Well, that’s a weird way to interpret what Riku said, but at least it keeps the world order. 

Sora will have to talk to him later. If Riku starts going around asking everyone they meet whether or not they’ve heard of _ Romeo and Juliet, _ or something, Donald’s going to be really upset.

“Hey, Jack!” Sora pipes up, capturing his attention, “Are those sails on the horizon?”

Jack squints at the horizon, then grimaces. “Looks more like a spot o’ land to me, mate.” He shakes his head. “Though it’s not on any charts we have. What with your luck, it’ll be some new sandbar, chock-full of nightmares. With teeth.” 

“C’mon, Jack! When have_ I _ ever dragged _ you _ into trouble?”

“Just means we’re well overdue for it,” he grouses. “Prepare to drop anchor.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n,” Sora says, saluting. He turns to Riku, who’s been watching them with a strange look on his face, and reaches for his shoulder. “You heard him! Let’s go; I’ll show you the ropes.” He grins at his own joke, waggling his eyebrows at Riku to make sure he catches it. 

“Right,” Riku answers, shaking off whatever weird mood had sunk its hooks into him this time. He smiles. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Okay, so maybe Jack was right about Sora’s luck. Still, the sandbar only had, like, five big nasty heartless with teeth, tops. Dealing with them was barely an issue. 

The bigger problem had been the massive heartless with no teeth at all, not that it needed them. Sora had only managed to come up with a strategy after it had already flung itself at them like a tentacled frisbee of whirling death for the fifth time. Good thing, too. If they’d wasted another moment, it might have given Riku another haircut with its weird thorns, head included. 

Sora shudders at the thought, then flops backward onto the deck of the _ Pearl. _

“Why is it always the flower themed ones?” He whines, turning to face Riku. “I shouldn’t even have to deal with them here. I should be… I should be playing cards.” 

Riku barely spends the effort to open an eye and send a skeptical look Sora’s way from where he’s resting in the sun. He doesn’t even bother asking the question out loud. Spoilsport. 

“Luxord was always the one who liked to mess with me in this world,” Sora explains. “His gimmick was always more…” He waves a hand. 

“Games.”

“Yeah,” Sora says. “Marluxia was the flower one.”

“Mmn.” Riku closes his eyes again, then sits up. “Those were nobodies, though, right?”

Sora sighs. “Yeah. And these are heartless, so I guess it makes sense that… Ugh. I guess!” He throws his hands in the air. “We’re in the Caribbean! They should at least be pirate themed!” 

“It _ did _ have tentacles,” Riku points out. “Besides… It wasn’t so bad, was it? We still cleared them out pretty fast.”

“Yeah,” Sora says, smiling despite himself. “Good thing we have Mirage Split and Nightmare’s End, huh?”

“They do come in handy,” Riku agrees. He pauses for a second. “I, uh… I didn’t really think we’d be able to combine keyblades when we were awake.” 

“Really?” Sora looks at him, startled. “I just figured that since we did it before, we could do it again.”

Riku stares at him for a second, then lets out a loud, full-belly laugh. “Of course you did,” he wheezes. 

_ “Riku,” _ Sora whines. “What’s that supposed to—” He’s cut off by the vibration of his gummiphone in his pocket, so he makes do with a final dirty look before checking his messages. Then he grins.

“Okay, so I asked some friends about your _ weird question,” _ Sora says, waving his gummiphone at Riku. “So you don’t start messing with the world order willy-nilly just because you’re a nerd who wants to know about Shakespeare.” He bites the inside of his cheek while he scrolls.

“So!” Sora clears his throat. “Hiro sent me a PDF of Hamlet, Aerith says ‘kind of,’ and then added a smiley emoticon, but I’m kinda too scared to follow up on that, so you get to ask her if you want to know more, and Belle has a lot of opinions on like, all of the plays, and keeps wanting smart feedback, so you need to pretend to be me and respond later because I was really nice and asked her for you.” He shakes his head, and leans back, tapping his gummiphone against his thigh. “I don’t think Pooh knows how to read, so you’re out of luck on that one.” 

When Sora reopens his eyes after his second of rest, Riku’s smiling at him. It’s not the wide grin from his earlier laughter, but a soft, small thing, like a present just for Sora. Which is nice, but also _ extremely _ illegal. It’s bad for Sora’s heart. Banned for possible impact on health! Do not risk prolonged exposure! Other stuff they’d print on warning labels!

“You’ve managed to make a lot of good friends, huh, Sora?” 

“Yeah!” Sora grins, and bumps his shoulder against Riku. “I’m looking at one right now.”

“Dork.” Riku bumps Sora’s shoulder back, ducking his head so that his hat’s casting a shade over his face. “Thanks for checking, by the way. You didn’t have to.”

“Course I did,” Sora says, shrugging. “It mattered to you.”

Riku makes a coughing sound, but he waves Sora away when he tries to help him out, so it’s probably fine. Then again, Riku would probably tell Sora that he was fine as he actively bled to death. 

Sora decides to keep an eye on him.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while after that, watching the sun slip below the horizon. It’s just like old times, in some ways, listening to the sound of the waves together, sharing a vigil as the sun sinks lower. 

Gosh, Sora’s missed this. Missed the waves. Missed the sunset. Missed sharing it with Riku. It’s been a short eternity since they were able to actually spend time together, what with Sora’s year of sleep, and Riku disappearing, and their separate missions, and…

And it’s fine. Because they found each other, and they get to stay together, at least for now. That’s all that matters. He learnt that much the last time he was on this very ship.

“Y’know,” Sora starts, breaking the silence. “Last time I was in the Caribbean—”

“Oh, this always ends well,” Riku jokes, but he turns to face Sora anyway, like he became the most interesting thing in the world the second he started talking, and— okay, so there isn’t much to look at once the sun’s gone, and it’s not dark enough to stargaze, really, but it’s nice anyway. 

“Shut _ up,” _ Sora says, shoving lightly at his shoulder. “Anyway! One of my friends died for a little bit.” There were probably better ways to phrase that. 

“A—” Riku opens and closes his mouth, eyebrows knitting together. “Okay. A little bit, meaning?”

“He’s kind of still dead maybe?” Sora tries, fumbling for a better way to explain. “I didn’t really understand it. He might be the king pirate of the ocean or death or something.”

“I think…” Riku starts to say something, then looks like he changes his mind. “I think you could have asked some clarifying questions, maybe?”

“That’s not really the part I wanted to tell you about, though,” Sora says, and Riku looks really confused, but lets him barrel on anyway, which is one of his best qualities. “Anyway, he can only spend one day on land now for every ten years on the sea, and I was thinking that that’s... really lonely.” 

“But…” Sora traces the grain of the wood beneath his hands, comforted by the rough, weathered feel of it. “My friends— Jack, everyone— they reminded me that even if it’s just one day, that’s enough to keep someone in my heart, and it’s worth it, y’know?”

“Which makes me feel a lot better, since…” He looks up at Riku, trying to catch his eyes, despite the darkness. “I know we both have important missions and we can’t be together as much, but it still gets kind of lonely out there. So it’s nice to remember that no matter how long we’re apart, we’ll always have some time together. And no matter what, we’re in each other’s hearts.”

“Y-yeah?” Riku coughs again, and Sora’s beginning to seriously worry that he caught something.

“Yeah!” Sora says. “I guess I just wanted you to know that. Kinda silly, huh?”

“Yeah,” Riku says. Then, he starts to smirk. “You’re a real sap.”

“Hey!” Sora reels back, but Riku stops him, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head. 

“You may be a sap,” he repeats, “but…” Riku’s smirk softens into a smile, sincere and sweet, and aimed at Sora with the laser focus of a shotlock. “I think ten years would be alright, if I could spend a day with a friend like you.”

Sora tries not to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, which is really, really hard, considering Will and Elizabeth are _ married, _ and they got married in the heat of battle, which seemed really romantic, and it’s hard not to let that flow out, high-tide kept back by the smallest stretch of sand, like the sea that spilled across the Dark Margin after he and Riku fought against Xemnas, back to back, and just _ breathed _ next to each other, and Sora really needs to say something cool, something honest but not too honest, but he’s coming up blank, and so he settles on a breathless, “Haha, yeah!” 

The thing is, Sora doesn’t know how not to love Riku. It’s imprinted in his heart, etched into the glass of it so deeply that he can feel the shape of it. Ten years wouldn’t be enough to erase that.

It might be enough to change it, a little at a time, and that… Well, it would be a lie to say the thought of it doesn’t sting. But even then, even if those feelings _ did _ change, the memories and moments they’d spent together… those would be the same. And so would the part of Sora’s heart that would always hold a little bit of Riku in it, no matter what.

Most of the time, it’s just a comforting fact of life. Sora’s heart beats. He feels safest sitting on the bend of the Play Island’s paopu tree. He’s in love with his best friend. 

It only ever stings— more of an ache, really— a little bit at the very most. And that’s only when Sora is stupid about it and lets himself imagine how it might sound if Riku had said “someone that matters to me as much as you,” or something sappy like that, which is stupid because he wouldn’t— He wouldn’t say that, and it’s silly to get carried away, anyway, which is why it doesn’t hurt often. Because Sora knows better.

Besides, even if it does stay like this forever, with Sora loving Riku and Riku never knowing, they’ll always have this: sitting next to each other, and smiling, and knowing that they’ll always, always be there for each other, no matter what may have happened in the past. And that’s definitely worth a little hurt. 

If Sora couldn’t manage that much, he’d have been doomed a long time ago. 

* * *

Saying goodbye to the Caribbean is the same as it ever was: emotional on Sora’s part, careless and casual on Jack’s. Riku’s contribution of a serious handshake and bow is new, and… okay, it’s hilarious, really, and Sora’s never going to let it go, but it’s also _ really _endearing. 

“Corona’s next, right?” Riku asks. “I don’t think I’ve ever visited.”

“Yep!” Sora confirms, bouncing in his seat. “You’ve gotta see— Well, I guess you are gonna see it really soon, but…” He grins. “It’s _ so _ pretty! Here.” He turns on his gummiphone, swiping through his album. “Look at this!”

Riku takes the gummiphone from him and whistles. “How’d you manage to stay still long enough for the birds to land?”

“Ugh,” Sora groans. “Don’t even remind me. I had to be really, really careful. Worth it, though.”

Riku’s stopped scrolling through the photos, which probably means he’s found the flan. “Don’t worry about the heartless that look like food. They just really like having their photos taken.”

“Hmm?” Riku looks up, blinking at him, then squints back at the gummiphone, rapidly flicking through pictures again. “Oh. Oh, wow. They really went all-out, huh?”

“Yep! I like the superhero team pose best.”

“Of course you do, dork,” Riku says, smiling. Then, his expression changes. “Whoa,” he breathes. “What’s this?”

“Oh!” The pictures Sora managed to grab of the beginning of the lantern lighting isn’t great— after all, he only had so much time before he was attacked. Still, it’s hard to miss the lights out on the water and the bank, even in the pictures from before they were released.

“When I was in Corona, this cool festival was going on. They had this whole thing about releasing the lanterns on the anniversary of their princess’s birthday to help bring her home. It worked, too!” Sora grinned. “I helped a bit.” 

“Of course you did,” Riku says, huffing in amusement. “You’re going to have to sit me down and actually tell me what you’ve been up to one of these days.”

“Isn’t it more fun this way?” Sora asks, smiling at him. 

“What way?” Riku arches an eyebrow at him. “Waiting for you to say something vague and gluing it all together like a puzzle?”

“Have to get you back for your man of mystery stuff somehow,” Sora says. He shrugs. “It’s my turn to be all enigmatic and stuff.”

“For sure,” Riku says, obviously fighting back laughter. “That’s what comes to mind whenever I think of you, Sora. Enigmatic stoicism. A man of mystery.”

“You bet!” Sora folds his hands behind his head and winks. “I’m unscrutable.” Wait. That’s not right. “Inscrutable?”

“That’s the one,” Riku confirms, nodding. 

“Ugh.” Sora makes a face, processing the information. “Shouldn’t they mean the same thing?”

“Yeah, but prefixes are weird,” Riku says. He shrugs. “Don’t sweat it too much.” 

“I think anything I say should be a word,” Sora says. “Like… Gargaslorp. Except not that one because I wasn’t thinking before I said it, and it sounds really gross.”

“Nope, you said it, so now you’re stuck with it.” Riku laughs, looking back at the gummiphone. “It’s your responsibility now. Congrats on the new word.”

“I don’t _ want _ it, though! I want a redo.” 

“Tell you what,” Riku says, not looking up, “you can workshop it while we’re down in Corona and get back to me with whatever you come up with.” 

“I’m not conjugating gargaslorp for you just so you can laugh at me,” Sora says, making a face. “And what are you looking at, anyway?” He asks, walking over to squint at the screen. “I got, like, two whole pictures of the lanterns.

“I was wondering about that, actually,” Riku says, looking up at Sora before turning back to the gummiphone. “Get too distracted by the lanterns flying to snap pictures?”

“Ugh, no,” Sora whines. “Marluxia attacked before I could get any. I didn’t even get to launch one!” He crosses his arms. “And now that they’ve found Rapunzel, I’ll never get another chance.” Wait a second. That came out wrong. “Not that I— I’m happy Rapunzel has her family, and that’s _ way _ more important than— I mean—”

“Don’t worry, Sora,” Riku says, waving him off. “I know what you mean.” He pauses, then smirks in the way that means he’s about to be a jerk. “Well, at least that’s your grudge against flowers solved.”

“Hey! My grudge against flowers has deeper roots than that!” 

“Ugh, _ Sora.” _

“What?” Sora pauses for a second, then laughs. “Okay, that one was unintentional. Still funny, though.” 

“Uh-_ huh,” _ Riku says, dragging out the sound so it’s as sarcastic as possible. “Sure. You just _ happened _ to make a horrible pun.” 

“It’s true!” Sora presses a hand over his heart. “Swear to my bones! You know I’d take credit for it if I meant to do it.” Wait, he was saying something before Riku distracted him. What was—

Oh yeah! 

“But really,” Sora continues, “flower heartless and me haven’t gotten along since Wonderland.” He makes a face.

Surprisingly, so does Riku. “Ugh. Okay, fair point.”

“You’ve been to Wonderland?” Sora asks, startled. 

“Huh? Oh yeah.” Riku taps a hand against his thigh. “Just for a bit, though. Wasn’t… uh… wasn’t a great time.” 

Sora’s about to ask a follow up question, but Riku clears his throat and looks back down at Sora’s gummiphone. “So, I’m guessing the princess is the one with…” He trails off, then starts swiping at the gummiphone, squinting as it zooms in. “Wait, how long is her hair?”

“Seventy feet,” Sora replies automatically. He’d asked. “And that’s a_ long _ story,” he adds, unable to resist. 

Riku shoots him an unimpressed look, and Sora almost laughs remembering his last text conversation with Kairi. Riku doesn’t ask him anything else, however, which is a bit disappointing. 

Instead, he flicks through a few more photos, then starts flipping back to the ones he’s already seen, stopping on the one Eugene took of his and Rapunzel’s water war. “It looks like you had a lot of fun.”

“I did!” Sora agrees, plucking the gummiphone from his hand. “But it’ll be even more fun with you there.” He swipes to the camera, switching it into selfie mode in one practiced move. If there’s any part of his gummiphone he’s an expert at using, it’s the camera. “Say cheese!”

“We’re doing this now?” The Riku on the screen has wide, startled eyes, which, nope, that won’t work at all. 

“Not if you don’t want to,” Sora allows, dropping the camera. “I just thought it would be neat to have a picture of us while we’re getting to adventure together.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to.” Riku relaxes a bit, sinking into his chair. “It just seems— Don’t you think we should save it for when we’re actually exploring the world?”

“Alright then, buster, you’re safe for now.” Sora chirps, closing out of the camera. “But just you wait! You, me, and this camera? We’re gonna make something great.”

“Yeah,” Riku agrees, and Sora can see the smile he’s trying to hide. “I’m sure we will.”

* * *

Donald and Goofy have always been pretty strict about completing missions as quickly and thoroughly as possible— up until they aren’t, anyway, and their focus narrows down to trying to beat their own record for sledding down a mountain or sliding through canopies. Still, Sora would have said that they tend to keep to a pretty tight schedule.

_ Would have. _ Not anymore.

Riku’s idea of efficiency seems to be on a completely different level. Maybe it’s due to two keyblades being better than one, or all that training in the Dark World. Maybe it’s just that they make _ that _good of a team together, which makes as much sense as anything else. After all, they decimated any dusk in their path in the World That Never Was. 

None of those explanations seem to fit quite right, though. In the Caribbean, the pace had seemed a lot more relaxed, and it isn’t as if there’s been some huge revelation or shift in priorities since then. It’s like some hidden switch was flipped, and now Riku’s on a mission to clear the world of heartless as quickly as possible. 

Maybe it’s something to do with the atmosphere. Corona’s beautiful and full of life, sure, but maybe… maybe after so long in the darkness, that’s unnerving to Riku? Does it put him on edge?

Sora really hopes not. Maybe it’s selfish of him, but… He likes having Riku with him, out here in the realm of Light. But if it came at the cost of Riku feeling comfortable, feeling safe… 

Well. He really, _ really _ hopes not, but if Riku is hurting, or even if he’s just kind of uneasy, they’ll work through it together. Sora’s never given up on Riku before, and if worst comes to worst, he’ll just have to start planning a few more trips to Halloween Town.

“Hey Riku,” Sora hedges, once the last of the Puffballs has been thundaga’d into smithereens. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Riku answers automatically, not even pausing in his post-battle stretches. Then, after a beat, he turns to look at Sora, face scrunching up in concern. “Are you? How many potions do you have left?”

“I’m fine,” Sora says, waving him off. “I barely have a scratch on me.”

“Good.” Riku’s serious expression is replaced by a smirk within half a second. “And here I was worried you were losing your touch.”

“Get real!” Sora makes a face at him, which earns a loud laugh. Good. Looks like Riku might be fine, after all. 

That still leaves a mystery unsolved, however: if Riku _ isn’t _ making like a patch of moss and moving to the nearest bit of shade, and he’s not up to his old martyrdom nonsense, then why is he rushing them along so quickly?

“Alright, judging from the reports, we have one last area to clear out, and then we should be done,” Riku says. “Then we—” 

“Wait, what?” Sora gapes at him. “But we just got here!” He’d known they were moving quickly, but not _this_ quickly!

“Yep,” Riku says, looking proud of himself. “We’ve made great time.” He taps at his gummiphone for a moment, then stashes it away. “Alright, so we— What’s wrong?” 

The second Riku catches sight of Sora’s face, his expression falls, and, ugh, Sora didn’t mean to ruin the mood, especially when Riku seemed genuinely proud of himself, but if they’re almost done, then that means…

“We’re almost done with our mission, huh?” Sora tries to smile, but it doesn’t come out as well as he wants it to. “Sorry. This is— Ugh. I just really had a lot of fun, and it just hit me that it’s almost over.” After a second, he laughs at himself. 

“Blegh. I tried to be all cool with that big speech about how even if we’re apart, we can still appreciate the time where we’re together, and now look at me.” He shakes his head, snorting. “Sorry, Riku. I’m being stupid.”

“You are not,” Riku says, fiercely, and places both hands on his shoulders. “Listen, Sora… I… The times that I…” His face scrunches up, the way it always does when he’s trying to make words come together in a less-Riku-like way, which kind of sucks because Sora loves when he lets go and just lets it happen in a big, messy, extremely Riku jumble of words. It may not make complete sense, but it’s heartfelt, and Sora kind of gets it anyway. 

“I wouldn’t trade anything for the time I get to spend with you,” Riku says. “And I’m not… I’m not trying to speed this along because I don’t want to spend time with you, or anything like that—”

Sora hadn’t even considered that as a possibility, but alright. Riku worries about the silliest things being misunderstood, sometimes, for a guy who never says what he’s thinking. 

“I just… I know that you really like this world, and I thought you might want to spend more time in it when it’s not, y’know. Infested.” Riku sighs. “Sorry. I could have, uh, telegraphed that better.” He looks sheepish, which is ridiculous, considering how happy he’s just made Sora with a few words.

“Aw, _ Riku!” _ Sora laughs, wrapping Riku into a hug, good mood overcoming him like the rush of a wave. “You big softie!” 

“I take it back,” Riku says, response flat and immediate, but he doesn’t move away from the hug. 

“No, you don’t.” Sora hums a little as he releases his best friend with one last squeeze. “You’re my best friend and you like spending time with me.” 

“Light knows why,” Riku grumbles, but it’s offset by the silly smile on his face. 

_ “You _ know why,” Sora says. He shrugs his discarded satchel over his shoulder. “Now c’mon! We’re burning daylight, and the cliffs take a while to scale.”

“Now who’s the one in a hurry?” Riku asks, amused. 

“I am!” Sora chirps, unashamed. “You’re the one who told me we get to hang out once we’re done, so really, you should have expected this.”

“Silly me,” Riku says, and his voice may be wry and sarcastic, but he’s stepping into position behind Sora anyway, ready to follow his lead, and well… When it comes to Riku, actions have always spoken a bit louder than words. 

* * *

Riku had tried to explain how time works in the different worlds to Sora before. He’d been very patient in a way that Joshua hadn’t, and he’d burned through an endless line of metaphors trying to explain exactly why an hour in one world could be three weeks in another. It… well, it hadn’t helped much, honestly, but the effort was appreciated. 

The thing is, Sora’s always been way better at learning from experience than theory. He may not know _ why _ exactly the worlds follow different timelines, but it doesn’t take a lot to pull two and two together about _ how _ it works when the three hours he spent competing in Olympus somehow translated into enough time in Pride Rock for Simba and Nala to have a kid. A whole entire lion cub. Three hours! 

Stuff like that always makes him a little nervous about revisiting his friends. He’s always just a little worried that ten years will have passed, or, inversely, only a few minutes. 

That said, he has absolutely zero clue ‘when’ they’ve landed this time. The festival decorations seem to be up, but they’re just a little bit off. Stalls he remembers being further back are set up closer to the bridge now, and— wait a second, that cluster of kids _ does _ looks familiar, but— 

“Sora!” A familiar voice cuts above the crowd, and Sora freezes at the feeling of someone grabbing his shoulder. He resists the urge to react— he’s not in battle, this is a peaceful town— and turns, then relaxes when he sees who it is. 

“Eugene!”

“Well, look at you,” Eugene responds, eyes widening in surprise. “You haven’t changed a bit, huh?” He shakes his head. “Do you even change your clothes, kid?”

_ “Yes,” _ Sora says. “And you’re one to talk. You wore the same thing for, like, the entire time we travelled together.”

“And yet, a year later, look who’s standing pretty,” Eugene says, gesturing at his new clothes. “And who’s still walking around in… literally whatever you’re wearing. I can’t describe that.” He tisks, shaking his head. “You want me to describe that? I can try, but it won’t be pretty.”

“Laugh it up, asshole,” Sora says, then freezes as he hears Riku make a sound behind him. Oops. 

“Eugene! This is Riku!” Who hopefully will forget about that interaction and not tell Goofy. It’s not that Goofy will do anything about it— he just looks so _ disappointed _ when Sora curses, so he tries not to. 

“So _ you’re _ Riku, eh?” Eugene grins, and actually, this was the worst idea. He should have just kept swearing at Eugene until they got banished or something. That’s probably a thing, right? He’s dating the princess. Or… wow, if it’s been a year, anything could have happened. Maybe they’re married now. Maybe Eugene had enough time to grow some tact, even.

Yeah, right. 

“Yep! He sure is Riku! And it’s his first time visiting the city, so he’s pretty confused about the festival!” Sora reaches over to squeeze Riku’s bicep. “Isn’t that right, Riku?”

“Um, uh… yeah,” Riku says, glancing between his arm and Eugene. 

“Wasn’t it supposed to help lead Rapunzel home, before?” Sora asks.

“It was,” Eugene says. “But now it’s more like a celebration.” He rubs at the back of his neck. “It’s, uh… Kinda multipurpose now, really. Half of it is celebrating that she made it back, of course, and half is a bit more symbolic.” He smiles to himself. “It was Rapunzel’s idea, really, to keep it as something other people might need— something that lasts.”

“Now the lanterns are more for guiding anyone home that needs it, or giving them a light to follow.” He gestures at a stall selling the lanterns. “It’s supposed to be a reminder that everyone has a place that’s waiting for them.” 

“Huh.” Riku looks down for a second, then smiles at Sora. “How about that?” He says.

_ “Oh!” _ A shout from further down the street interrupts Sora before he can respond, and suddenly a very excited woman is bearing down upon the three of them. “Just one moment!” She nearly barrels into them, only stopping at the last moment, and has to work to catch her breath. “You’re the boy who did that cute little street performance last year, right? My kids absolutely loved it!”

“I’d completely forgotten about that!” Eugene laughs.

“Are you planning to perform this year as well?” The woman asks, absolutely beaming at him.

“How about that! You have some fans,” Eugene says, cocking his head. He grins, obviously enjoying the way Sora’s fidgeting. “You up to some flag twirling later, kid?”

“Flag twirling?” Riku asks, laughter in his voice, and if he hadn’t spent hours of his life hauling flats of water to Sora’s color guard practices back when they actually went to school, Sora would be _ so _ mad at him right now. 

“Uh…” Sora scratches the back of his head. “I don’t know about that. I mean— yes, that was me, but I promised I’d show my friend—”

“I don’t mind walking around a bit by myself,” Riku says, grinning. “Don’t mind me.” 

“Alright then,” Sora says, grinning at the woman. The second she turns away, he glares at Riku. “You’re a demon.”

“Revenge is so sweet,” Riku says, punctuating it with a contented hum. 

“You _ volunteered _ to carry the water, and I paid you back!” 

“You brought me a change of clothes _ once, _ Sora.”

“Well, maybe you should have forgotten them more often!” 

“Boys, boys, settle down,” Eugene interrupts. “Sora, your adoring public awaits.”

“You heard the man,” Riku says, grinning because he’s a jerk. “We can walk around when you’re done.”

* * *

For all of Sora’s objections, he really does love to put on a show, and it’s always fun to figure out how to best combine the flourishes and spins necessary to wow the crowd. That said, he _ did _ want to spend the day with Riku, so he’s ready to at least put on a show of being irritated for a solid minute or two. 

But, well, Riku wouldn’t be Riku if he didn’t immediately derail any and all plans without even realizing it. 

“Nice performance,” Riku congratulates, which pokes the first hole in Sora’s At-Least-Pretend-to-Be-Annoyed strategy. “Here,” he adds, handing over the items that blast the plan to the ground and send its deflated carcass fluttering to the floor. 

“You got me a lantern?” Sora asks, blinking down at it. 

“And a pretzel,” Riku adds. “I didn’t know they had those here, honestly. The more you learn.” He takes a bite of his own pretzel because he’s Riku, which means he refuses to actually talk about the important stuff until he’s been vague and appropriately casual about it first.

“You said you didn’t get to send a lantern off last time, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss out.”

Sora stares at him for a long moment, feeling like his heart’s about to overflow. How one person can be so good and so bad at emotion at the same time is a mystery that may never be solved, and Sora loves him so, so much, and he wants nothing more in this moment than to make sure Riku knows that.

“I’m sorry for making fun of your rafts, Riku,” he says. “I know you always worked really hard on them, and I didn’t always do my fair share, but considering this isn’t long distance, and we’d only have to go as far as the harbor to launch these…” He smiles up at him, lifting the lantern a bit. “Will you do me the honor of building a raft with me for this festival?”

Riku stares at him for a long moment, then laughs, grin blooming wide. “Sure, Sora. Let’s build a raft.”

* * *

It takes a lot less time to prepare the logs for the raft than it did the first time, back when they didn’t have magic at their disposal and barely knew what they were doing, but it does take a little bit longer than it did in the dream world by sheer virtue of how many people are around at any given time. Magic might exist in this world, sure, but it’s a bit different from the kind Riku and Sora use, and they don’t want to alarm anyone.

After they’ve taken a few trips into the forest and prepared the logs, however, it’s (mostly) smooth sailing. They know from experience that lashing doesn’t take very long, especially now that Sora’s spent so much time in the Caribbean. The real struggle is keeping the connecting logs in place while they’re floating in the shallows. They’re _ supposed _ to be the frame of the whole thing, but until they’re tied together, they’re a pain in the butt. 

Even so, they’re almost finished with the raft before anything actually goes wrong. 

“Hold on one sec_aah!” _Sora yelps as he slips on something slimy, losing his grip on the logs as he falls backward. When he resurfaces, his eyes are stinging, but he mostly managed to avoid swallowing seawater, so the only real harm is to his dignity.

“Are you alright, dearie?” Sora hears from behind him, and yep, definitely some bruised dignity, considering two old ladies apparently saw him eat shit. 

“I’m fine!” He accepts Riku’s help up, making a face when he catches him laughing. “Thanks for checking on me, though!” 

“O’course! Can’t just let you go and drown on us,” the other woman says, and for someone so short, her voice sure carries. The two of them look sun-worn in the same way fishermen and pirates do, so Sora would guess they only just finished their day, coming in from the docks. “You’ve got work to finish, after all,” the same woman adds, laugh booming out of her.

“Oh, don’t tease him, Eva,” her companion says, elbowing her. “They’re doing a fine job, especially with how quickly they’re going. Reminds me of our younger days, in fact.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Riku says, inclining his head. “We do our best.”

“I can see that,” Eva says, grinning, though it’s… really not clear if she’s answering Riku or the other woman. “Ah, it’s a shame my bones ache the way the way they do; I’d love to see who could build the better craft.” She turns, grinning, to her companion. “I’m sure you could still give ‘em a run for their money, ‘ey, Sophie?”

“You cannot enter me in a boat-building competition with two nice young lads who are just trying to have a romantic evening, Eva,” Sophie says, shaking her head. She flashes them an apologetic smile. “Sixteen years we’ve been married, and her competitive streak hasn’t budged an inch.”

“That’s alright,” Sora says, grinning at them. “If we didn’t have our head start, it’d be a lot of fun to see who could build it faster. Might be unfair with how much experience you two have, though.”

“Might be,” Eva responds, smile bright, ignoring the way her wife groans.

“I should have known you two were kindred spirits the second you toppled over,” Sophie says, sighing. 

“I bet you’re the one who dragged your boyfriend into this, ‘stead of going out and renting a boat, eh?” Eva asks.

“He’s the one who likes building rafts more, actually,” Sora says, and maybe it’s selfish to go along with this, under the cover of it being easier to play along with strangers that they’ll never see again, to be able to shrug and smile afterwards because no real harm is done with two people out there thinking of them as a couple, but, well… The idea that these women see him and Riku and assume they must be on a date, that they don’t assume he must be in love with a girl somewhere because of course he is, _ of course _the boy would pair off with the girl in the end— he can’t help but clutch it tightly to his chest.

It seems like every other interaction he has when someone brings up love ends with them assuming that he and Kairi will fall into some inevitable romance. And although Kairi’s fantastic, and he couldn’t have asked for a better friend since the day she fell from the sky, they aren’t fourteen years old anymore and working through childhood crushes. And he understands that although he and Kairi know that, that they’ve had their discussions and respective sexuality crises, and it’s no one else’s business if they don’t want it to be, he sometimes…

Sometimes, Sora just wishes people could immediately look inside him and see how much he loves Riku, how much he can love another boy and maybe then they’d stop assuming that every guy and girl they see will somehow fall into place with each other. 

So maybe it is silly and stupid and selfish, but this one moment where two women who love each other see him and recognize him as a boy in love with another boy _ means _ something. He doesn’t want to let it go.

Riku doesn’t say much for the rest of the conversation. He’s still friendly and polite to the older couple, and he’ll back up whatever story Sora spins about why they’re new to the city with his own details, but he’s quieter than he’s been, and… Okay, Sora doesn’t _ think _ he’s ruined everything because if Riku hasn’t picked up on Sora’s feelings before now, this wouldn’t have done it, and if he has, then he’s been very cool and respectful about it so far, so it’s probably fine. 

Besides, even if Riku did put two and two together, he’d be nice about rejecting Sora. Sora was just kind of hoping that he’d never have to go through it because then Riku would beat himself up for making Sora feel bad, and Sora would have to reassure him that it’s okay that he doesn’t like him like that, and it would just be _ super _ awkward for everyone involved. They’ll deal, though, if it comes to that. They always do. 

So! It’s probably fine? Riku might just be quiet for completely unrelated reasons. It wouldn’t be the first time. 

That’s what Sora’s trying to tell himself as they launch the raft, anyway, because otherwise the lantern launching is going to be really uncomfortable. 

After a few minutes of silence, Sora checks his gummiphone, relieved when he has a message from Kairi that he can focus on for a solid ten seconds— _ “HELP ME SHE TOLD ME MY HANDS ARE SOFT I’M GONNA DIE” _ — and sends off a quick response.

He’s glad Xion’s taking initiative, but that makes sense. They may not have known each other for very long— not really, anyway— but she doesn’t really strike Sora as someone who second-guesses a plan of action. 

“You, uh…” Sora’s head snaps up the second Riku starts talking. He’s facing away from Sora, looking at the sea, but he keeps turning the lantern around in his hands. “You didn’t have to go along with them for my sake.”

“Hm?” Sora stares at him for a second before it registers. “Oh. I’m, uh…” Sora sighs. “Sorry if it made you uncomfortable. I just—”

“No!” Riku interjects, almost dropping the lantern. “No, it’s not— It was just— You’ve been… Well, you’ve been great about everything, and I’m sure it must be awkward for them to think that…” He trails off, putting the lantern down so that he can grab at his hair, like he always does when he’s frustrated. “Ugh. Sorry. This was stupid.”

“Wait.” Sora blinks at him. “What do you mean?” Great about _ what? _

_ “Sora,” _ Riku sighs. “It’s okay. You don’t have to act like you don’t know to spare my feelings.”

“I’m not acting,” Sora says, crossing his arms. “I— Okay.” He takes a deep breath and carefully does _ not _ cock his head because Riku always says he looks like a confused corgi when he does that. “You have to understand. I don’t—” He laughs self-deprecatingly. “I don’t have a brain. Please just… spell out whatever you’re trying to say.” 

Riku winces like that’s the worst possible thing Sora could have said to him, then heaves a heavy sigh. “I really wish you wouldn’t say things like that about yourself,” he says. Then, he takes a deep breath. “I’m talking about the whole, y’know… Me being in love with you thing.”

“The _ what?!” _Sora is on his feet before he realizes it, feeling like he’s been thundaga’d.

“You didn’t _ know?” _ Riku, asks, also rising to his feet, and he looks as shocked as he does horrified, which, no, no, Sora has to set this straight immediately. 

“Of course I didn’t know!” Sora, says, waving his arms. “If I did, I would have—” He’s cut off by his own mistakes when he throws his arm out too far, and then he’s falling off the side of the raft.

There’s a moment where Riku reaches for him, and for a moment it feels like he’ll be able to pull him back on, but in the end, gravity wins, and they’re both plunged into the water. 

Luckily, they’ve also both been surfing since they could walk, which is great, since Sora wasn’t done talking. He grabs Riku’s hand the second he bobs up for air. 

“Okay!” Sora wheezes, grabbing the raft with his other hand. “Okay, you have to know that I’m in love with you before I say this—”

“You what?” Riku asks, gaping at Sora as if he’d just told him that Kairi was half-dolphin.

“—because otherwise saying this would make me sound like an asshole.” Sora says, barreling ahead. “But I do love you, so it’s fine. I am in love with you. So you know now, and I can say this because you gave me the perfect opportunity, and I am so sorry Riku, but you should have expected this.” He takes a huge, gulping breath and grins. “Looks like I made you fall for me.”

Riku stares at him for a long moment, looking at their intertwined hands and Sora’s face, his face flickering through every emotion possible before settling on a grin, hard as he’s trying to look annoyed. Then he splashes Sora.

“I cannot believe you!” Riku says, splashing him again. “You don’t get to ruin this moment with an awful pun!”

“I _ improved _ the moment,” Sora insists, splashing him back. 

“No you didn’t,” Riku says, but he’s laughing, and he’s looking at Sora like he can’t believe he’s real, so Sora’s having trouble believing him. “You made it so much worse, but I love you too much right now to care.” He shakes his head, still grinning, then pulls himself onto the raft, though he makes it harder than it needs to be my keeping his eyes on Sora the whole time. 

“Get over here,” Riku says, holding out a hand to help Sora up, once he’s repositioned everything so that it won’t topple over the second he jumps on. 

The first thing Sora does once he’s back on the raft is snap a picture of them both and send it to Kairi because, one, she’s definitely earned the opportunity to make fun of them for this by now, and two:

“I told you we’d get a great photo out of this,” Sora says, waving his gummiphone. _ “And _ we got boyfriends out of it. We’re so good at this.”

Riku makes his choking noise again, then jerks his head in a nod. “Uh, yeah. Sure— uh. Sure are.” He winces. “Oh, jeeze, how can you just say this stuff?”

“Well, it’s like you always say,” Sora says, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “I’m a sap.”

“Yeah,” Riku agrees, still looking at Sora like he can’t believe he’s real, and Sora can’t wait to wipe that look away, so it’s not even in question— to make it so obvious that Sora’s there and loves him that it’s as much a fact of life for Riku as it is for Sora. 

After a moment, Riku laughs. “I guess this proves your point about rafts once and for all, huh?” He asks, gesturing at their soaked clothes.

“Nah,” Sora says, squeezing his hand again. “I think they’ve proven they’re good for some things.”

“We’re not making a habit of almost drowning in emotionally charged moments,” Riku says, leaning towards Sora. 

“Think that ship’s already sailed,” Sora counters, smiling. 

“It better not have,” Riku says, obviously ignoring the pun. “Because I’d… I would, uh, really like to kiss you right now. And I’d prefer if we weren’t immediately dumped overboard.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sora agrees, closing the distance and pressing his smile to Riku’s. 

When they separate, the world is much brighter. It’s only after a long moment of Sora being sappy that he realizes there’s a physical, logical reason for that.

“Shoot! We didn’t let our lanterns go with everyone else!” Sora scrambles to grab his, then casts a hasty fire spell. Riku’s a lot calmer about lighting his, but somehow, they both lift off at the same time.

“Aw…” Sora sighs, watching them climb upwards. “They’re kinda late. Sorry, lanterns.”

“They might be a bit late,” Riku allows. “Still good, though. And they’ll get there eventually.” He reaches for Sora’s hand again. 

“Who’s the sap now, huh?” Sora asks, but he’s having a hard time swallowing around the lump in his throat. He takes a deep breath and grins, turning his gaze back up to the sky. Next to him, Riku does the same.

Hand in hand, they watch the lanterns rise up, lighting the darkness for whoever needs to find their way home.

**Author's Note:**

> I might eventually write a companion piece to this with Xion and Kairi in Arendelle because I have a very clear idea of what’s happening and it’s VERY funny. Sweet, but funny. 
> 
> This one goes out to Maddie for being directly responsible for roping me into Kingdom Hearts after I spent a solid decade giving it a pass, as well as for indulging me when my single discord message of "See I’d LOVE to be sappy but instead I love stupidity" spiraled into this. Thanks for being there when I plunged a spile into the massive expanse of my love of open and honest communication and only making fun of me a Little bit when I was somehow surprised at the endless font of sap I'd unleashed. 
> 
> Additional thanks go to Sara, who helped edit this and also reminded me of essential guidelines for the care and keeping of your goth best friend, Noah, who reads my fics even when the titles are too long, and Silv, who remained constantly hyped for this fic.


End file.
